By Peter McVitie

Champions Ajax and relegated Willem II ended the season on a high with wins while Vitesse and ADO suffered unexpected defeats

TWENTE 3-1 PSV

Mark van Bommel was sent off in what turned out to be the final match of his playing career as he announced his retirement following PSV’s 3-1 defeat to Twente.

The Eindhoven side, bringing an end to a disappointing season in which they failed to win the league title and lost in Thursday’s KNVB Beker final to AZ, were second best throughout the match against the Enschede outfit.

Luc Castaignos opened the scoring just three minutes in with a fantastic run down the right before cutting in and smashing past Boy Waterman from a very tight angle.

Twente went 2-0 up 25 minutes later when Nacer Chadli took on a Leroy Fer pass and drove towards goal unchallenged before smashing it into the net.

Five minutes before half-time, Dries Mertens stepped up to bring PSV back into the game by converting a penalty.

Twente’s two-goal lead was restored, however, just nine minutes into the match when Chadli tore down the left wing and squared to Willem Janssen who was able to tap it in at the back post.

It was a poor performance to bring an end to a poor campaign for PSV and it got worse when Van Bommel was shown his second yellow card of the match for a stamp on Dusan Tadic. It was the PSV captain’s 10th and 11th yellow cards of the season and his first red and he revealed after the game that it would be his last as a professional footballer.

GRONINGEN 0-2 AJAX

Eredivisie champions Ajax ended the season on a high with a 2-0 win over Groningen at the Euroborg.

Sporting their brand new away jersey, Ajax took the lead in the early stages of the match through a delightful goal from Kolbeinn Sigthorsson. The Iceland international ran onto a perfect diagonal pass from Daley Blind and slotted past Marco Bizot with his first touch to make it 1-0 just eight minutes in.

Both sides created chances from there on in but it was Ajax who scored the next goal and subsequently killed the game off. Danny Hoesen took on a Stefano Denswil pass and skipped past one defender before slamming it into the bottom corner with less than 20 minutes to go.

VITESSE 0-1 VVV

VVV ended their season on a high with a 1-0 win over Vitesse in the Gelredome on Sunday.

Vitesse dominated possession, but were kept at arm’s length by the visitors who sat deep, remained organised and hit them on the counterattack.

The hosts created more chances throughout the game and should have taken the lead through Wilfried Bony. The Ivorian, possibly playing his last game for the club, had some chances in the first-half, the clearest of which was a header from a Marco van Ginkel cross that was saved by goalkeeper Niki Maenpaa.

VVV did have their chances as they broke forward, seeing two shots cleared off the line by Vitesse left-back Patrick van Aanholt before an effort from distance was palmed away by Piet Velthuizen.

The opening goal came as a bit of a surprise, as Bryan Linssen collected an Oguzhan Turk pass and held off Tomas Kalas before firing past Velthuizen.

Vitesse dominated possession throughout the second period but couldn't breach the resilient VVV defence as the game faded out and ended 1-0.

FEYENOORD 1-0 NAC

Graziano Pelle’s second-half goal made the difference for Feyenoord as they beat NAC 1-0 to hold onto third place.

With NAC safe from relegation and Feyenoord rooted in a Europa League spot, this was a battle between two teams with nothing to play for except pride.

Anthony Lurling almost put NAC in the lead in the first-half when he took on a Rick ten Voorde pass and went one-on-one with Erwin Mulder but the Feyenoord goalkeeper proved one hurdle too much for the 36-year-old and saw out the danger.

The opening goal came just before the hour mark amidst some uncertainty. Pelle rose to meet a John Goossens corner and headed it towards goal. The Italian frontman’s effort was headed off the line by Tim Gilissen but struck the bar and bounced out before it was cleared. Play was stopped, however, as the linesman called the referee over and he awarded the goal, ruling that Gillessen was standing behind the line and the ball had crossed it before it was headed out and Feyenoord secured the three points.

RODA 1-0 HEERENVEEN

Roda will be high in confidence when they approach their first relegation playoff after they beat Heerenveen 1-0 in Kerkrade.

Despite the defeat, Heerenveen remain in eighth place and will take part in the playoffs as they look to secure a place in the Europa League qualifying round next season.

Roda were the better team throughout the match as they created more chances and took the lead after 31 minutes through a Krisztian Nemeth strike.

Heerenveen began to see more of the ball after going behind but the chances they created were few and far between and they failed to beat Filip Kurto and his defence.

Marco van Basten’s side will now go on to face Utrecht in their first playoff as they look to earn a place in Europe, while Roda prepare for their clash against De Graafschap in an attempt to ensure they remain in the Dutch top flight.

WILLEM II 2-0 AZ

Willem II bow out of the Eredivisie with some pride after they defeated newly-crowned KNVB Beker winners AZ 2-0.

The Alkmaar side, fresh from Thursday’s KNVB Beker victory over PSV, had very little to play for, just like their opponents who were already relegated.

Both teams created chances throughout the opening 45 minutes but failed to convert their opportunities. After a goalless first-half, Virgil Misidjan opened the scoring two minutes after the restart when he took the ball from AZ defender Etienne Reijnen and ran towards goal before knocking it home.

Less than 20 minutes later, Willem II’s lead was doubled as AZ left-back Giliano Wijnaldum headed awkwardly into his own net.

The victory is Willem II’s fifth of the season, they collected just 23 points over the campaign.

UTRECHT 3-0 HERACLES

Utrecht held onto fifth place as they took all three points from the final Eredivisie fixture of the season, beating Heracles 3-0.

The home side were the better team throughout the game but didn't open the scoring until ten minutes into the second-half. Jacob Mulenga galloped forward before squaring to Cedric van der Gun to tap into an open goal.

Mulenga then converted from the penalty spot to make it 2-0 after 71 minutes and just three minutes later, Jens Toornstra capped off a fine performance from his team with a delightful finish after some lovely work from Nana Asare.

Utrecht now enter the playoffs for the Europa League qualifying spot, with their first game coming against Heerenveen on Thursday.

ZWOLLE 4-2 ADO

ADO Den Haag blew the opportunity to leapfrog Heerenveen and book a place in the Europa League playoff spot when they lost 4-2 to Zwolle.

Art Langeler’s side dominated straight from kick-off and created opportunities before they took the lead through Fred Benson who pounced on the rebound of a Mustafa Saymak shot to divert it in after 19 minutes.

Benson netted his second ten minutes after the restart but Santi Kolk soon fired ADO back into the match with a goal a further ten minutes later.

The teams exchanged goals once again with Saymak restoring a comfortable lead for Zwolle after 67 minutes but, with five minutes remaining, Rydell Poepon scored to give ADO a fighting chance.

The visitors’ hopes were soon dashed, however, as Youness Mokhtar scored a minute later when Jesper Drost passed to him on the edge of the box and he set himself up for a shot and smashed it into the bottom corner.

It was a thoroughly entertaining and convincing performance from Zwolle, a fitting farewell for Langeler who departs to become head of youth at PSV next season, with Ron Jans replacing him at Zwolle.

NEC 1-2 RKC

NEC have endured a dismal end to the season and have finished fourth bottom in the league after a 2-1 defeat to RKC.

The Nijmegen club picked up just one point from their last 10 Eredivisie matches, going from a team occupying a Europa League playoff place to sitting just outside the relegation zone.

Their final match of the season was a poor one by their standards as they fell behind just seven minutes into the game when Kenny Anderson finished from a Florian Jozefzoon pass.

Jozefzoon then got on the scoresheet himself when he brought down a Jeroen Zoet long ball and drove towards goal. He shook off one defender and blasted it past Gabor Babos to make it 2-0 on the hour mark.

Kevin Conboy scored in injury time to halve the deficit for NEC but it was the only bright spark to a poor end to the season for Alex Pastoor’s men.